From Max to Hermione
by vikke101
Summary: What if Max from Dark Angel Was Hermione from Harry Potter, it's my first story so please review:D It maybe a little OC in character and history. I'm renovating so the first chapters will change some what. on undefined hiatus, open for any suggestions :
1. Chapter 1

**In an unknown location.**

Men and women are running around shouting orders and directing people, its look like a military base preparing for an attack. You can hear the helicopter overhead and illuminating everything in its path. If you look closer at the building itself you can see that one of the bigger window in the middle of the wall is broken. On the ground, there's shard of glass mixed with blood, painting the white snow. Regardless its depressing architecture, the grey building looks exactly like a prison or a mental facility.

**In an unknown area, in the woods.**

At the same time in the woods two children are running at a amazingly high speed, both of them have a buzz cut and white hospital gowns. They stop at a fallen tree trunk, after some time several heads pop up behind the old tree. The two newcomers join the others behind the tree trunk. There one who stand a little above the others, this one starts doing some strange hand gestures, and after exchanging some hard looks and more hand gestures, they split up, one of the girls with full lips is the last to run off with another girl, this one seems so much more frail then the other girl. Both make it to a frozen lake.

The frail girl runs over the lake first, when they hear a helicopter over them and the yelling of people coming closer. The girl with full lips tries to run over to frozen lake too, but the ice breaks and she goes down in the water. The frail girl want to go back to her friend, but the girl with full lips commands her to run away with some hand gestures. She looks one last time to her friend soaked to the bone in the lake, but she turns around and run away.

The girl take one last breath before she going under the ice in the frozen waters of the lake. The helicopter above lights the ice covering the lake but they fail to spot the girl, finally it flew away.

The girl rose and climbed out of the cold water, her lips were blue and her skin was pale white. She ran for a while until she reaches the highway. She's walking alongside the highway for some time, when she sees a car.

The car passes her but stops a few meters from her. The passenger door opens, when the driver notices that she isn't coming, the driver sets the car in reverse and drives the few meters to reach the girl standing in the side of the road. When the girl eyes meets the blue eyed driver, the women says "jump in, I work at the facility and I want to help!" the girl is freezing and knows that she could die if she don't get in warm and dry clothes.

The blue eyed woman takes the girl's hesitation as mistrust.

"I know the way out of here, I can see that you are cold and if you won't come inside the car or at least take this blanket with you... But you should know, that I have none intentions whatsoever to turn you in to the facility."

The girl thinks or pretends to be about the offer, but she knows in the back of her head that she can trust the woman and she really need to get warm and dry quickly.

In the end she just nodes her head and get in to the car. The woman smiles softly to herself. She may have been a employer at the facility, but she did have a heart.

"My name is Hannah, I'm the head doctor at the facility." She says to break the silence.

"You should know that, when we manage to get you out of the facility area, I have to send you away. You understand that right?"

The girl nod one time to show that she understood.

The car filled with silence for awhile, Hannah concentrating on something very hard and the girl just looking at her, analyzing her every move.

After an hour or so Hannah takes a device from her coat pocket, the girl doesn't look scared, she knows that it will be easy to Hannah down if she were a treat to the girl's safety. And Hannah knows that to if she really worked at the facility.

"I am just going to call someone, she's going to help you."

The girl with full lips tilts her head to the side showing that she is listening.

The girl is curious about the thing in Hannah's hand, and she's pretty sure it's a sort of communicator. When Hannah starts talking, the girl focuses her attention on hearing the exchange that is happening in the communicator.

"Hey, it's Hannah"

"Hello, Hannah you do realize there's a time difference between here and there, don't you?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm in a bit of trouble you see, I picked up a 9 year girl that broke out of the facility where I work. She wasn't the only one to escape, but I only found her. But this is beside the point, I'm calling you because I know that you always wanted a child and I need to send her out of the country so... do you and your husband want to take her in?"

**In a house on the countryside in England.**

Helenacriesofhappiness. Her husband and she tried every method known to men to get pregnant to no avail, they were on the list to adoption, but it could take years. She never thought in a million years that her old doctor would call in the middle of the night and practically give her a child. She didn't care that the child was 9 years old or the fact that the child in question recently escaped from a facility in the US.

It was lost on her that the facility could have been a horrible place or that it was a little strange that the girl just could be given away like that. If you told her that the facility was a military science base, with the only purpose of making the perfect soldier. She would have laughed in your face (Or in this case over the phone).

But she didn't care of all this, Helena just wanted her own child, someone to show what a family is, someone to cherish and love.

She turned to the side to wake her husband up, while still on the phone with Hannah.

"Tom, Tom, TOM wake up." Helena is still screaming of happiness. "Hannah may have found us a child"

"mmmmhm... What did you say sweetheart?"

Tom was half asleep and didn't quit understand what his wife was telling him.

"Wake up! We are going to have a child!"

Tom that had been half awake was now wide awake. His mouth was gaping like a fish out of the water.

After a good 10 minutes he managed to say "we are going to get a child?"

Helena had already confirmed with Hannah that they would take a flight to the US in the morning while her husband was processing the information his wife gave him.

"Yes Tom, we are going to be parents soon."

Tom couldn't take it anymore and closed his eyes and mind to the outside world and slipped in to oblivion caused by the pure bliss of a dream coming true.

Helena couldn't help the small smile that graced her lips.

She got dressed in a white dress, black cardigan and black ballet flats. She left her long blond hair down in curls and went down to book them two tickets on the next plane to America, and three return tickets.

**And at the same time back in the U.S**

Hannha looked down on the floor were the little girl sat and said "I know you heard that and I want you to live with them. They are good people; they live in England and are a very kind couple."

The girl on the floor just nodded her head and looked away from the woman.

She was willing to go live with the couple Hannah had called The Grangers. Where else could she go? As Long as she didn't have to go back to the facility that Hannah called Manticore. She would go anywhere.

"You know I have to give you a name, I think... Hermione should fit. It's from Shakespeare and it is also from Greek mythology and means messenger."

The newly named girl just sat there and thought to herself that she already had a name and it was Max.

"I have to make some stops for a birth certificate and stuff like that, it won't take too long. I'm a doctor after all."

And with that they had created a new citizen: Hermione Granger. The only child of Tom and Helena Granger.


	2. Chapter 2

**I own nothing and thanks again to my beta, MegAnne :D**

**At the airport.**

The Sea-Tac Airport was packed. If you looked closely you would have seen a girl that kept looking around, assessing the danger that surrounded her. She always put herself in front of a middle-aged women that also kept looking around, the girl wasn't acting like the way a child tend to do when they are over excited, no she was in a protective stance and she didn't have the innocent baby face a child her age tend to have.

The girl was 4.1 feet not a abnormal height for a 8-10 year old, her hair style was a bit odd thought, it was cut just inches from her scalp and looked a lot like a military buzz cut. Her cloths consisted of a black turtleneck and cargopants other than her hair cut, she looked pretty normal.

But if you took the time to look at her face, you could see a hardened look that wasn't normal in a kid, like she's been trough more than a child should had.

The women that seemed to follow the girl didn't look like the mother of the child. She was always nervously looking around and kept looking up at the arriving board.

Two hours later, the arriving board claimed that an airplane coming in from England just landed, the girl and the middle-aged women waited patiently at the arriving gates.

The middle-aged women looked like she was going to be sick, the little girl just looked uninterested, but if you had been inside her head you would have known that she was a nervous basket case, and she didn't like being at the airport or any other place where there was so many people around her. She didn't know anything about the couple she was meeting. She was used to be briefed about every single person that she was supposed to meet. She knew everything about the people that didn't work at Manticore, the people Manticore ordered her and her unit to kill.

Hannah had said that the Grangers were a lovely couple and were going to be a good home for her, what Hannah meant with a good home she had no idea, but she knew that the Grangers didn't know about Manticore and they were never to be told about it either.

Finally a happy couple came out through the gates. The woman was 5.5 feet tall and had a lovely smile, if her husband hadn't been holding her hand she would have been jumping through the roof from excitement.

The man on the other hand looked like he wanted to cry, he was a rather handsome man with dirty blond hair and well built, he was about 6.3 feet tall.

Max or Hermione as Hannah called her looked at Tom and Helena up and down, her face didn't tell much about what she was thinking, but inside her head she was in alert mode, accessing the danger the couple could do to her and Hannah, she didn't trust Hannah either, but she was accepting her as her superior at the moment.

When the couple reached them, Hannah was the first one to speak, she greeted them and ask if the flight was okay.

Helena answered her stating that they didn't have any trouble during the flight and that they are very excited to be here.

Tom just kept on looking at Hermione. He was still wrapping his mind around the idea of having a daughter, the child he had been waiting for all those years. She may not be his flesh and blood, but you know the saying: a mother knows their child from the moment she finds out she is going to be a mom, but a dad knows from the first time he sees his child.

Hermione was a little uncomfortable sensing Tom's gaze on her, but she didn't see him as a threat. She didn't see Helena as a threat either. She knew that she could take them down if she had to. Hermione felt another set of eyes on her and looked up in to the brown loving eyes of Helena.

Helena and Hannah watched the transaction between Tom and Hermione with great interest, Helena used the opportunity to look at Hermione, and her first impression was a beautiful little girl with a dark past. Hannah hadn't said much about Hermione's past, but she knew that she had run away from the orphanage, and that she didn't have any relatives.

"Hermione, hi my name is Helena and this one here is Tom, we were hoping you would come to England with us" Helena said in a motherly tone.

Hermione just nodded her head in affirmative and looked ahead.

Helena smiled a warm smile at Hermione and turned to Hannah.

"I'm forever grateful for what you have done for us Hannah."

Helena couldn't help her actions she just had to hug her. Hannah had just given her the best gift she could ever get.

"Is there anything we need to know about or any legal business we need to take care of before we go back to England?"

"No, there's nothing left to do, I have taken care of everything."

Hannah had literally 'taken care of everything' she hadn't had much to do, she just had to fake a birth certificate and passport for Hermione.

"So Hermione here is the end of the road, I wish you the best of luck in life and I hope I never have to see you in that place again."

Hannah couldn't hold back a stray tear that made its way down her face.

She knew that after this she would have to find another job, she couldn't keep working there and see how horrible the children were treated.

Hermione saw the tear and didn't understand why Hannah was crying, she didn't have any injury that were life threatening. But she agreed that she didn't want to meet Hannah there again.

So with that thought Hermione uttered her first words since the escape "I hope so too."

The three adults were in shock, not because of her words, but because of her voice. It was like bells and a sound so soft that it was barely audible.

Helena was the first of the three to snap out of it and said the first thing that popped in to her head.

"Hermione is it okay if I call you 'Mione?"

Hermione looked up in to the eyes of the women that radiated warmth and kindness and replied.

"You can call me Max if you want to."

Hannah looked at Hermione alarmed. She had stressed the fact that the Grangers were never to know of anything about Manticore, including her name.

"I would like that very much Max, but why would you want me to call you that?"

"It was the name my friends called me back at the orphanage, it was too difficult to them to say Hermione. So they needed a new name for me." Hermione lied easily.

Helena smiled and tried not to squeal in excitement, in her mind she was chanting to herself 'she let me call her what her friends calls her.'

"We need to get going Hel, we need to check Hermione's bags." Tom said and took the hand of his wife in his own.

Hermione looked up at Hannah and said

"Can you look out for them for me?"

To Helena and Tom this was a simple request and they didn't think too much about it, but to Hannah this was a hard request, she couldn't promise that she would find them let along look out for them (them as in the other kids that escaped).

"I will try." was her final reply.

"That's good enough."

And with that Hannah bid her goodbyes and left, for a good night sleep.

Tom turned to Hermione and said "Come we need to check in and then we will be on our way home."

Helena reached out to Hermione with her hand, letting the girl make the first step towards her new family. Hermione didn't want to hurt the nice women feelings and took the hand in hers. And with that the newly formed family was on their way home. Where ever that was.


	3. Chapter 3

**I own nothing, and Give my beta MegAnne some love, she is wonderful ^^**

**On board **

The Granger couple and their newly found daughter sat in first-class. Helena or Hel as Tom calls her, was in the middle of a story when Hermione tuned out, Helena had almost talked for a hour straight, about their work, friends and family.

Hermione had learned that the Grangers worked as dentists, had their own practice and were a wealthy couple. They had many friends and when Hermione was settled in they would have a small dinner party, that way Hermione could meet some of the kids her age. She also learned that The Grangers didn't have much family left, both of Tom's parents were dead and Helena's mom was dead. Tom had one sister, but she lived in France.

Helena on the other hand had 2 sisters and one brother, her sisters were twins and they currently lived in Africa. The brother lived in England, but lived on the other side of the country, so they didn't see him that often.

Helena had finished her the story and sat quietly beside Hermione. Hermione sat between Tom and Helena, Tom was currently sleeping. His mouth was open and every five minutes he would snore.

The lady in the seat behind them was getting more and more annoyed by this.

The first-class section was half empty, and most of them were asleep as well. The section itself was quite nice, not that it fazed Hermione, and she would have been comfortable with the luggage room if she had to. Back at Manticore, she and her unit had been on one of those military planes, were you have a steel bench to site on and a rope to hold on to.

After a while Helena had fallen asleep too, letting Hermione think about the last 48 hours of her life.

She missed her siblings and she hoped that everyone had made it out okay. She hoped they had as good luck as her. And that was some of her last thoughts before she slipped in to unconsciousness after 48 hours of being constantly on the alert for danger or Manticore.

When she woke up she kept her eyes closed and listened to the conversations around her. The flight attendants were having a pretty boring discussion about how they got cramps from smiling all the time. The lady behind the Granger's was singing under her breath, and she hadn't a sweet song voice.

But this wasn't the thing that had caught Hermione's attention. She was eavesdropping on Tom and Helena. Tom was talking about all he would do with Hermione, such as fishing, football, mountain climbing and go on rides on his motorcycle. At this Helena said no, her daughter would not ride on that death trap, she even threatened to sell it if he as much as thought about it.

Tom just nodded his head and smiled, and though to himself that Hermione was lucky to have Hel as a mother and he was a very lucky guy that had her as his wife.

Hermione yawned to let them know that she was wake and right then the intercom cracked to life and the pilot announced that they were about to land and to put on their seat belts as they would make their descend towards the ground soon.

"And thanks for fling with Seattle International, have a great stay in London"

The Grangers put on their seat belt and Hermione followed suit.

The first-class section was let out first and the Grangers collected Hermione's bag at the luggage area. They went through security and found their way out of the building.

They took the bus down to the car park, because of the long distance between the parking lot and the airport.

On the bus Hermione looked out of the window and noted the scenery. It was pretty dark, but with her superior eyesight, she could see every tree covered in snow, every rain drop, even the animals hiding in the forest. The scenery hadn't changed much, the trees looked the same and it was pretty much the same buildings they were just arranged in another pattern. She however felt the difference, the feeling that she was far away from everything she knew, and that this was the beginning of something new and unfamiliar.

The bus stopped at the parking lot and Tom found the car without difficulties, he loaded Hermione's bag in too the back seat and told Hermione to jump in.

The Grangers took the front and that left Hermione with the back seat, she didn't mind though, it gave her time to think and maybe sleep some more, it was hard for her to sleep with Tom and Helena right beside her, she didn't see them as a treat but she didn't trust them either.

Tom started the engine and drove out of the parking lot. And he started the 4 hour long drive to Exeter.

Helena turned around and said: in 4 hours or so you will be home. She gave a warm excited smile and Hermione couldn't help but smile in return, it may not have been the biggest smile but it was enough for Helena.


	4. Chapter 4

**I own nothing and thanks MegAnne, for being my beta ^^**

**What a mother to do?**

They had been driving for almost two and a half hours and had almost two to go.

Hermione was sleeping in the back seat and Tom and Helena talked about what they should do first when they got home.

Helena was afraid that Hermione wouldn't like it there and Tom was just a little anxious about what Hel's family and his sister would say to the rash decision to adopt the girl.

He knew that it hadn't been a rash decision, and that they had hoped for years to adopt a boy or a girl. But his sister that had been living in France for the last 5 years didn't know about that decision and Hel's sisters hadn't kept in contact either, the only one he could think of that was going to support this a 100% was their friends and Hel's dad.

Helena on the other hand wasn't concerned about what her family would think, she even gave a rats ass about what their friends thought, she knew that she was going to be the best mother she could be for Hermione, her concern was that Hermione wouldn't like her, or missed her friends at the orphanage, or that she would hate her room, or that she would mess up on something and that Hermione would hate her.

She started to think that maybe they weren't ready to have a child. It was all this maybes, ors and ifs that Helena couldn't stop thinking about. Tom tried to tell her that she would make a wonderful mother and that she had nothing to worry about.

When they had about an hour left, Hermione woke up. She didn't want to bother Helena and Tom, but she really need to use the restroom. She didn't know what to do, at Manticore they were taught to do as the CO (commanding officer) told them to, but after the escape nobody had given her permission or ordered her to do anything and it started to confuse her.

Who was her new CO? Or didn't she have one anymore? Was it always a CO or a Commander to tell her what to do? Or was she her own CO now that she had gone against her former CO?

She had no answers to any of her questions and she was painfully in need of a bathroom.

After 10 minutes, she couldn't hold it in any longer and asked Tom if it was possible to stop anywhere for her to use the bathroom.

Tom just smiled and said "I have been wondering when you would need to use the bathroom, and yes in about 5 min we can stop at a gas station. We need to tank up anyways."

Hermione was first in shock. She didn't understand that she could ask a question like that and not get a scolding. And that turned into happiness, when she understood that she could go to the bathroom. She wouldn't have asked if it wasn't a 100% need of it.

When Hermione spotted the big shell symbol, she was thanking the Blue Lady. Five more minutes and she would have peed herself, it felt like a hundred knives was pressing on her bladder and other organs.

They drove up to the pumps and Helena was the first one out of the car, she wasn't exactly sure what to do, but she got out of the car anyway.

Helena turned towards Hermione and said "Hey, let me show you where the bathroom is."

Hermione nodded her head and followed her.

When Hermione was walking out of the bathroom towards the car she picked something with her enhanced hearing, and from the sound of it wasn't good.

Inside the station there was a man trying to rob the place. And Helena was inside.

Hermione had come to like her, not trust her but accept her. And she couldn't just walk away when she knew that one from her unit was inside. Maybe not her unit but her new mother or whatever that means.

So she did the only thing logical to her and went in as well. The rest of the people outside were unaware of what was happening inside, they were just waiting for their relatives to come back.

Hermione first checked out the robber's position and how many they were, it was quite easy to see, because when you entered the station you had the cash register right up front, and shelves on each side. There weren't a lot of people in the station, around five including Helena, the clerk and the robber.

When she had finished analyzing the situation she crept around to the back and looked for the back door. She found it and opened it quietly, or as quietly as you can open a metal door. The room she came into was filed with stock goods and other items.

On her right she had the backside of the fridge (the side where they fill it up). And a stack of soda and other drinks, she took one can of soda and began to shack it. She crouched down and kept on walking. She stopped at the door and looked in to the store.

The robber was holding the clerk at gunpoint and the other one was laid on the floor.

The clerk was emptying the cash from the cash registers in a plastic bag. He had just emptied one of them, when Hermione decided to move.

She pulled off the cap of the can and towed its contain in the robber's face. She pushed the clerk and grabbed the gun out of the robber's hands. she did all this in less than thirty seconds.

She held the gun towards the robber now. In the station, they started to realize that the gun wasn't in robber's hand anymore, but in the hands of a nine years old girl.

Helena was one of the first to see Hermione and the gun, and started to panic.

"Hermione drop the gun...please"

"No, if I do it he's just going to run out those doors and maybe try to rob another station or shop."

Helena looked at Hermione's face and saw the hard gleam in her eyes.

As if it wasn't the first time she had held a gun to a man's head and she started to wonder what Hermione had been through in America or her life in general.

She started to feel a protective instinct for the girl, all she wanted to do was to take the gun and throw it as hard as she could and give Hermione a big bear hug. Hermione heard the sirens coming up closer and started to lower the gun.

"They're coming now..."

"Who?"

"The police." She answered in a matter-of-fact voice.

And just then they all heard it, the distinct sound of police sirens.

"Hermione you can lie down the gun now" Helena said in a gentle voice.

"Okay" Hermione answered simply.

Tom came running in to the station an right towards Helena, when he had checked that she was okay, he went over to Hermione and she went through the same check up followed up with a big hug.

When the cops came they asked Hermione out about the events and said that they were impressed but next time, God forbid that it happened again, that she should call the police first.

After two hours, they could go home.

And Helena spent the all time talking with Hermione. First she was upset, then she became scared for her and then finally she was proud of her.

Hermione didn't understand the different reactions, but it gave her a sense of warmth and belonging.


	5. Chapter 5

**Betaed by MegAnne Cormack**

**I don't own anything.**

**What makes a room?**

When they got home, it was late and Tom and Helena were exhausted. Hermione just played along, she wasn't really tired or anything, that was mostly because of the shark in her DNA.

The new surroundings didn't help either. The house wasn't big, but she hadn't been inside a house before so she wasn't the best judge. The outside was very nice, even in the darkness, she could make out the front garden, the pitch black night didn't stopped her vision, but gave things another glow.

Anyways the outside was covered in white, white snow and it looked like no one had ever set a foot down in it. It was just the pathway up to the front door that was touched and the space for the car.

Hermione especially liked the ups and downs in the landscape. The snow covered up every stone, bush and rough patch. She liked the idea, she could relate to that.

The house itself was a nice two storey building, in a Victorian style. To Hermione it was just a building where she was going to live. But to by passers it was a really beautiful piece of architecture.

At the left side of the house there were a double garage, and that made up the outside of the property.

On the inside it was different, the kitchen and the dining room were connected. All that separated them was a kitchen isle, the dining room was warm and welcoming, you got a feeling that it were safe here, that nothing could harm you.

One thing bothered her though, and that were the big plasma TV in the far corner of the room. Back at Manticore they had used those to monitor every move the soldiers did.

She had seen them when she had been in to debriefing, and it showed everyone, she thought that it was just X-5 at the base, but she was wrong. You had the X-1 monitored as well, you couldn't see much on it, but she recognized the basement where the nomalies lived. Then you had the X-2 monitor that one was also from one of the lower levels. And so on all the way up to the x-5.

The only thing she couldn't find out where was the cameras hidden?

She hadn't seen a camera in the first floor, she hadn't seen one in the living room or the kitchen, nor in the bathroom. She hadn't been in Helena's and Tom's room but it was unlikely that there was one there.

She hadn't been to the second floor, so when Helena asked Hermione to follow her to Hermione's room, that just happened to be on the second floor. She gladly went with.

The second floor was a hallway with 2 doors on each side, and at the end of the corridor there were another room with a TV in.

"Here is your room. It is a little empty... but we will go shopping, maybe not tomorrow but soon." Helena was a little nervous and Hermione noticed it. She didn't know what to do but that it was a regular occurrences this days, and she didn't like being clueless.

"The door beside this one leads to your bathroom. And these two leads to guest rooms." she pointed to the door on her left and the two doors on the other side of the hallway to show which she meant and turned around to Hermione again.

"So... Go on open the door" Helena said after along awkward silence.

Hermione did as she was told and opened the door. On the inside it was bigger than she first thought it would be, she was used to big sleeping quarters, but not this big and just for her. Back at Manticore her whole unit shared one room.

The room itself was quite simple, the walls were white, the bed was a queen seize and was also white and the wardrobe were big and white. In short terms everything was white and big.

Hermione took one step in to the room and looked closer at things, she almost expected a Manticore researcher to pop up any moment, but they never came.

"You know we can fix it up...if you don't like it..." Helena said from the doorway.

Hermione didn't know how to respond to that statement, and therefore didn't answer.

Helena watched Hermione inspect her room and grow nervous, Hermione's face showed little, but if you looked closer you could see that she didn't like it, maybe it were to much white?

"We can ix it up." She finally said.

When Hermione didn't answer, she started to regret the decision to paint everything white. She and Tom had done it because it was a color easily to paint over. And it worked for boys and girls.

"Helena... What do you mean when you say that we can fix it up?"

Hermione couldn't stand to live in a med-lab lookalike.

"I mean just that, we can repaint it and buy some new stuff... and anything you want to, it's your room after all." Helena said this with some kind of gentleness Hermione had never heard, and she got that feeling again, the one of belonging and warmth.

Hermione smiled for the second time since she got out of Manticore

"I don't think we should go shopping tomorrow though, we have to show you the place and introduce you to the neighbors, but the day after tomorrow we can go shopping"

Hermione nodded her head ones as her smile fell off her lips and looked at the room again. Guess she had to be in the med-lab lookalike for two days then.

Helena saw the look on Hermione's face and rethought the decision to introduce Hermione to the neighborhood first.

"Euh... I guess we can go shopping first, the neighbors won't be going anywhere, and if you want to go tomorrow we can."

Helena said after a minute of thinking.

"We need to get you some new clothes anyway. The winter is going to be gone soon and you need spring cloths, you can't go in turtlenecks everyday"

After Helena had said this Hermione's eyes where ridiculously large and scared, if she took off the turtleneck she would show the barcode, because of her buzz cut. and that would led to too many questions that she couldn't answer without scaring the living daylight out of them... Maybe that may not be a bad thing, not the scaring part, but the showing part.

She felt Helena and Tom needed to know the truth, and they needed to know before they went shopping...


	6. Chapter 6

**Betaed by MegAnne ^^**

**I own nothing.**

**Telling the Truth.**

After Helena had showed Hermione her room, they went down to find Tom. He was sitting in the living room watching a science program in on the television.

When Hermione saw that the television was turned on, she froze for a moment, but quickly covered it up and started to walk again. She took a seat on the couch to the side from the one Tom and Helena sat on.

"So what do you think of the room?" Tom asked as he turned the TV off.

"It's quite big and white, but it's nice" Hermione answered with her head turned down.

"Oh… But that's fine we can repaint it and get some new stuff in there so it won't seem as big." Tom said with a smile, 'it would be fun to redecorate the room and get to know Hermione's style and what she likes'. He thought to himself. He looked over at his wife, but her full attention was on Hermione.

Helena looked at Hermione and saw that she didn't look so good, it almost looked like she were struggling against an invisible thing, her face looked pained and the girl started to shake.

"Hermione are you okay? ... Hermione can you hear me?"

Helena shot up from her seat and half walked and half jogged to the other couch.

"Hermione...have this happened before? ... Please Max say something, anything"

Helena was starting to panic, Tom got up from the couch and was rushing to find a phone.

"Hel, I'm calling the hospital."

At this Hermione tried to say something "N..n..n..o., I...I..I'm f..i n...e, it... wi..will be…e o..ov..over"

"Max you are not fine, you are shaking and I think you are having some kind of seizure"

Helena took the seat beside Hermione and hugged her. She laid her head on Helena's shoulder.

They sat in silence for a long time, Tom sitting on the other side of Helena, holding the phone close in case he had to call the hospital. Helena and Hermione just sat there together, the girl holding the woman and Helena trying to comfort the girl in her arms

The shakes became slower and slower, until the stopped altogether. Hermione tried to sit up, but couldn't. She didn't know what to do, she had no strength left, and she was scared of what The Grangers would do to her now that they saw that she was sick and defected.

"Max are you okay?" Helena asked when the shaking had stopped.

"Yes... I think so"

"Do you know why this happens?"

Tom asked a little scared of what the answer might be. Doctor Hannah wouldn't have given them a sick child without telling them about it, it wasn't as he would send Hermione away, he looked at her as his own and would be there if she needed him, but if she was sick Hannha should have said something right?

"No, it have just happened ones before, back at the orphanage"

"What did they do about it back at the orphanage?" Helena asked she was hoping that there was a simple cure or something; she couldn't handle losing Hermione now.

Hermione didn't know what to answer. She didn't know what helped or what caused the seizures. And the first time she had them, she and her unit escaped from Manticore.

"I...I don't know, they never knew about it" Hermione looked down and bit her lip.

"What do you mean?" Tom said when Helena said at the same time "Didn't they ever notice that you had seizures?"

"N...no, they didn't know" Hermione were a little scared now, she wanted to tell them about Manticore, but their reactions now made her think twice about it.

"But Hermione why didn't you tell them, I'm sure they would have helped you" Helena said gently.

"I agree with Hel, they would have helped you, I know that Hannah would have anyway" Tom said with a voice full of concern and gentleness.

Hermione had no replay to that and just kept quiet. After a few concerned looks over Hermione's head between Tom and Helena, Helena said:

"Max what exactly happened back at the orphanage? why did Hannah call us?"

Hermione saw this as a opportunity to tell them the truth, but then she thought: 'what if they don't want me, what if they don't want a soldier that don't obey, what if they don't want a soldier at all.' Without her consent her mouth started to form words on its own.

"Well...you see, the place my siblings and I were living is called Manticore, it's an army camp outside of Gillette, Wyoming. It make and trains super soldiers , from before I can remember my siblings and I have been trained in extensive combat skills, including martial arts, acrobatics, infiltration, marksmanship with many weapons, and computer technology. We didn't have names we were X5-da,da,da. My designation is 332960073452 or X5-452 for short. When we stood for inspection one morning, X5-417 or Jack started to shake and fell to the floor. Two guards came and took him away. That night I couldn't sleep so I went out of the barracks, something we were not allowed to do. And tried to find Jack, I found him on an operation table. With men standing around him. I went back to bed, the day after I told X5-599 or Zack about what I'd seen, he was my units CO. We didn't hear more about Jack. One night my hand started to shake, and I tried so hard to make it stop, I never told my unit about it. Until one evening I was on my way to bed, the others were already in theirs and the shaking started again, but this time my whole body was shaking. I landed on the floor with a thump. The others jumped out of their beds and went towards me.

"Then one guard and some scientist came in. One of the scientists came to pick me up, but Zach kicked him away. The guard took out his gun and pointed it at us, but Eve took it out of his hands and pointed it at them. Zack helped me up and Eve made the scientists move out of the way. We managed to get down the hall, but when we were about to turn the corner, Lydecker and guards came around it, Eve was in the front holding the gun towards them. At this Lydecker pulled his own gun and shot Eva. The gun slide out of her hands and stopped right in front of me. I couldn't take it. And right then Zack pulled me and the rest of the unit to a window and jumped through it. We landed on the ground and started to run. We meet up again and then Zack told us to split up into pairs. We did what he ordered us and then we started to run again, I was with X5-210 or Jondy, we were running when I fell through the ice that covered the lake and Jondy didn't have time to help me up, because of the guards that were closing in on us. I hid under the water till it was safe to resurface, and then I made my way to the Highway, where Hannah found me and decided to call you." Hermione said this all in almost one breath, it all came sort of rushing out and she couldn't stop it. Helena and Tom just sat there with their mouths hanging open, and didn't say anything in a long time. And Hermione was starting to get nervous. She started to come up with escape routs and plans to survive in a forging environment. She was so lost in her planing that she snapped to attention when Helena started to speak.


	7. Chapter 7

**Betaed by MegAnne**

**I own nothing. **

**I know honey, I know.**

Helena spoke first: "Hermione what do you mean when you say they made you?"

Helena couldn't quite understand what Hermione was saying, she had seen the hard look in Hermione's eyes earlier, but she couldn't even imagine that it had something to do with a place called Manticore that made and trained children. She rather thought Hermione just had some rough experiences at the orphanage or her former home. But this was just unbelievable.

"Eh, I don't know how they do it, but they mix different strands of DNA. I have mostly shark and Feline DNA, I don't know what the other minor DNA strands are..." Hermione said, the question was a simple one, but she never actually thought about the different types of DNA she had, in Manticore it was normal, but here everyone had just human DNA.

"So you are saying that you and the other orphans are bioengineered super soldiers that escaped from a place called Manticore?" Tom asked with disbelief laced in his voice, first of all he couldn't believe that Hermione was a soldier of any kind, and second he couldn't believe that Hannah worked at a place that used children that way.

"Well yes, you could say that, but the orphanage is Manticore." Hermione really hoped the questions would stop soon, she was tired and just wanted to go to her med-lab lookalike room.

"Hermione maybe we should go to bed, I think that if we sleep a little it will be easier to understand. And you have been through a lot these past couple of days."

Helena had been looking at Hermione and saw that she was dead on her feet, and decided that even though she wanted answers, Hermione's health was more important.

"Yes, I think I need that" Hermione tried to get to her feet, but couldn't. She simple was to tired.

Tom was deep in thoughts; he couldn't believe that Hannah and other human beings could do something like this. How can you just go and make something as pure as a child and then train it to hurt, spy and obviously kill. It wasn't right and he would do everything in his power to keep Hermione safe from it, form now on Hermione would have the opportunity to be a child.

Helena's thoughts were pretty much the same as Tom's, and she too would do everything in her power to keep Hermione away from it. There was just one thing that bothered her: who is this Lydecker and how can they fix the seizures?

Hermione didn't want to ask for help, she could just sleep on the couch, but then again she wanted to sleep on a bed, and not a hard and uncomfortable couch.

"Could you help me to get to the room?" She really hated to show any kind of weakness, but deep down she just knew that the Grangers wouldn't used her weaknesses to hurt her.

"Oh, yes dear. Tom can you help her up, I have to make some phone calls."

Helena had been trying to decide if she should call doctors that she knew or Hannah, the only one that could have some answers. She chose to call the later and if she didn't get her answers she would call her friends.

"Can you get to your feet or do you need me to carry you?"

As Tom said this he looked at Hermione's half closed lids and decided that he would carry her.

He picked her up slowly and tried to be as gentle as he possible. When he noticed that she didn't object he looked down at her face again and saw that she was a sleep. He smiled a little when he saw her a peace full expression on her face.

He carried her to her new room, laid her under the covers, enjoying the fact that he was tucking his daughter in. He didn't hesitate to kiss her on the forehead before heading downstairs.

From the kitchen he could hear Helena talking on the phone, he didn't know who she was calling at this hour but could only assume it had something to do with Hermione.

When Tom was upstairs with Hermione, Helena called Hannah on the last number she used to call them, not caring about the time in the U.S., she needed answers and she would get them.

"Hello this is Hannah speaking"

"Yes hello Hannah this Helena Granger calling"

"Oh hey, Helena, is there something wrong with Hermione?"

"Well yes, and no. She is fine for now, but she had a seizure earlier this evening and then she told us something about a place called Manticore, do you know anything about that place?"

"Hum, yes, in fact I do, but I can't say much, it's the policy and I don't want to put you in danger, I can say that the seizures are caused by a low serotonin level and can be prevented or lessened by tryptophan, which you can get in pills or in milk. I can't say much more. I sent her to you for her safety and I told her not to tell you anything, but anyway she is the only one that can talk about Manticore. I have to go. I will call you if I find out more about the seizures. Bye. " Hannah ended the call and Helena stood there trying to take it all in. she didn't know who she should call now and came to the conclusion that she needed some sleep and that in the morning after some sleep she would see this in another light, she would be a little more prepared for the answers she wanted.

Right then Tom came in to the Kitchen and walked up behind her, He laid his head on her shoulder and she laid her cheek next to his, taking comfort in his arms.

"I think we should go to bed now, Hermione will answer some of our questions tomorrow and the others will come with time... Okay?"

Tom sensed the conflict his wife was going trough and tried to show her that he was here if she needed him.

"I know, I just hope everything turn out all right, I can't lose Hermione now, she may not be my blood, but she is my daughter" Helena said this in a voice that held no space for doubt about her desire to keep the girl, that she would never give her up, she belonged to her, she was her daughter now.

"I know honey, I know. Let's get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow."


	8. Chapter 8

**I don't own Harry Potter or Dark Angel=(**

Food and questions.

Hermione woke up to see the white ceiling, and felt like she had forgot something, you know the feeling you get when you have left the stove on or forgot something important. That were pretty much what Herminoe felt, she tried to think back to the weird dream she had. at first she couldn't remember it exactly, but after a minute or two she started to remember it. In the dream she and her siblings had escaped Manticore and Eva were dead, she had meet a Doctor for Manticore and she had sent her to a couple in England or something. It were a absurd and sad dream, but some how she felt that she were happy with the couple, like she belonged to them.

She closed her eyes and sat up in bed, she couldn't remember that her bed ever had been soft or quite this big. she opened her eyes again and looked around. It were white and it looked exacly as the room in her dream. The window faced south and the sun were shining bright trough the curtains,her training at Manticore told her that it were around midday. She were a little surprised at this, because she had never ever in her life woken up after 05.00 in the morning. This were caused by to things and that were because of her shark DNA and Manticore's breakfast start at 05.30 if you don't show up on time you can forget about it.

So anyway she jumped out of bed and made it(the bed)

She didn't know if she should go down or just wait in her room. Finely she decided that she would go down, but first she would inspect the room closer.

On the upside wall of the bed there were this hug white closet, she had never ever seen a closet this big, her locker back at Manticore could go 5 times inside of it, and that said something, she couldn't even dream about seeing the closet full of cloths, it would take her at least a couple of months just to go through them(the cloths) one the two other walls there were nothing just the door that led out to the hall way and a window on the wall upside that one.

Anyway on the same wall as the bed there were a second door, the door that lead in to the bathroom.

She walked in and looked around her eyes grow big, the bathroom were simple put the most beautifully room Hermione had ever walked in to. It had a large bath tube and a shower that had all of this different buttons and stuff, it also looked like it had more than one shower head, something Hermione didn't see the use for.

When she were finished with the bathroom she went out the other door that lead to the hall way and started to walked down the stairs, when she had reached the bottom she smelled food and heard noises that she presumed were from the the smell, but the noises.

She walked toward the kitchen/living room.

When she came to the kitchen she saw that Tom and Helena were already up and about, Tom were watching the TV and Helena were making lunch.

Hermione stopped and watched the TV for a minute, what she saw surprised her it were a group of people that were standing around talking, the things they were saying weren't interesting and she could hear the fakness in their words, no one had the right emotion behind their words, to her it were just empty forced talk. and she thought maybe the TV dosen't always have to show things that are real.

She then turned to the kithcen area and made her presence known.

Helena looked up when she felt a pair of eyes on her and saw Hermione. she smiled and asked"Hi have you slept well?"

"Yes extremely, I have in fact never slept this late before. Back at Manticore the breakfast were at 05.30 and morning drills at 06.00 so if you wanted breakfast you had to wake up at 05.00 or maybe you could stretch it to 05.15." Hermione could see and smell the food and it didn't look like anything she had ever eaten, the food she were accustomed to smelled nothing and looked like a big lump of gray substance that tasted as much as it smelled.

"I hope you are hungry, I'm not the best cook, Tom is the one that makes dinner and breakfast, but lunch I can manage." Helena were swirling around the kitchen as she talked. She were very graceful, it almost looked like she were dancing.

"Yes ma..Yes I'm very hungry." Hermione almost forgot that Hannah had told her not to call The Grangers for ma'am or sir, old habits die hard.

Helena stopped dead in her tracks, did she just hear Hermione almost call her mama or was it just her imagination?.

Tom walked in to the kitchen and saw a beaming Helena. He looked over at Hermione, but she were totally absorbed in the food Helena were making and Helena's every move.

He just shook his head and went to set the table.

When the lunch had been prepared and set on the table, Tom, Helena and Hermione sat down for the first time together to eat a meal that were home cooked.

There were this really weird awkward silence, sure there were the occasionally pass the salt or can you give me that, but nothing of importance. Like the questions they wanted to ask, for example Tom and Helena wanted to know more about Manticore and stuff, but couldn't find a way to put it out Hermione just wanted the silence to be over.

They sat in silence for a good 10 min and Hermione started to get agitated, she could see and feel there stares Helena and Tom were sending her, the questions that stood clear in their eyes and behavior. She couldn't take it anymore and said

"Okay, I know you have been dying to know more about Manticore and my life there so just ask already."Hermiones voice didn't show that she were agitated, but the Grangers felt it none the les.

........

"Eh, okay... you said that Lydecker shoot Eve, but who is Lydecker?"This question had been nagging at Helena, she couldn't believe that a grown person could kill a child.

"Okay, as I said we had CO's and 2IC, 2IC means Second in command, Eve were our 2IC. Anyway Lydecker is the man that commanded them again, he is the one that called the shoots, no pond intended." Hermione kept on eating when the Grangers just sat there bubbling with rage towards a man that they had never meet.

Tom were the fist to recover and asked "So eh you said that your unit escaped, will that mean that there more of you back there?"

Tom were pretty sure he know the answer, but couldn't quite believe it.

"yes there are more of us, eh not just X5 but X1 all the way up to X5, the X1 to X4 are considered anomalies more animal than human." Hermione shuddered at the memories from the basement.

.....

"eh, well did they ever take you outside of the facility?"

Helena had managed to get her anger under control again, and wondered if Hermione had ever seen the outside or if they just ran without knowing what the outside world were like.

"No, none of us had ever seen the outside world. Just on photographs"

"but you knew something of the outside world, you didn't just run without knowing if the place you were running to were worse or nice?" Helena didn't say this in a are you stupid voice, but in a nervous voice because if Hermione said Yes that would mean that Manticore were so bad that you would do everything to get away from it even if the place you were running to were worse.

"well we did, we didn't know of anything other then the pictures from the outside world."

Hermione didn't understand way Helena were nervous when she asked the question so she just left it at that.

They finished eating and went in to the living room.

"Well I thinks that it for the questions today, we have allot to do and not allot of time to do it. We ned to get you some new cloths and things for your room. I don't know if you want to do it today or just settle in today, but we have to get a move on if you wanna do it to day."

Tom said this as nothing had happened, as Hermione weren't from Manticore and were just a normal girl.

"Well first of all I have to show you something that can be a problem to get cloths for the summer and spring..."

As Hermione said this she turned around and showed them her neck, she could her Helena's muffled gasp and Tom's mouth hitting the floor.

She turned around again and just watched them process it, it were Helena that come to her senses first and asked "Hermione way do you have a barcode tattoo on your neck?"

Hermione smiled a little and said " well we can just say its a gift from Manticore to show us that they made us"

"You don't mean to say that Manticore tattooed a barcode on you, just to show that you belonged to them?"

Helena said this even more disgusted than before.

"No, I don't think that they tattooed it to my neck, I have always had it, we all just had it, even when we were kids."

Helena hadn't a reply to that, but looked positively and utterly disgusted.

"Okay, well that is going to be a problem when it comes to the cloths, other people would start to think when a 9-year old girl have a buzz cut and a tattoo on her neck."

Tom looked as disgusted as his wife.

Hermione saw the disgusted looks at the Grangers face and thought that it were her that they were disgusted with.

She looked down and just waited to her the words: Get out.

Helena saw the sad looking girl in front of her and quickly changed her expression.

"Hermione.... you know that we aren't disgusted with you, just the people that have done this to you."

Hermione looked up at Helena and saw the sincere look in her eyes and smiled.

She trusted and liked Helena and Tom more and more with the minute.

They never raised their voice against her or ordered her to do stuff. They may not be her unit, but she would do everything in her power to protect them.

They were her new family now.

**Hey, hope you liked it, if you have questions the Granger should wonder about please give me some help, I'm at a stand still. And next up will be the shopping scene after that Harry Potter will be in focus more=D Thanks fore reading=D**


	9. Chapter 9

**Shopping for months.**

The Grangers and Hermione decided to shop for clothes first, and if they had time they would look for paint and stuff for Hermiones room.

Hermione went back up, took a shower and changed to a new set of clothes.

She didn't have much, two shirts, two trousers and some underwear that Hannah bought in a hurry back in The States.

Anyway she took a shower and changed her clothes, then she went back down and saw that the Grangers were ready to go.

They drove to the local mall, Helena and Tom decided that: Tom should go look for stuff Hermione would need for her bedroom, while Helena and Hermione went cloths shopping.

Helena headed for the cloths shops, she didn't know where to go first, there were so much to choose from and she hadn't thought much about what a 9 year old would like to wear.

She finely decided to go to H&M first.

They entered the store, Hermione had for the first time in her life no idea what to do, she had never been inside a clothes store before. Yes Hannah had bought her cloths, but she had waited in the car.

Helena turned towards Hermione and saw the lost look that were painted on her face.

"Hermione, what should we look for first? some jumpers or trousers?" Helena know she wouldn't get a answer, but had to ask anyway.'

"eh, I don't know. You decide" Hermione looked at all the cloths and just felt lost, she never had to think about what she were to wear before. Back at Manticore they all wore the same and that had never bothered her.

"Okay, why don't we start with some trousers, the one you have now are a little too big" Helena headed towards the child section and then found the section where the pants where located.

Hermione didn't say much, she just tried one the different types of pants Helena wanted her to try and felt that some of them were nice but others were uncomfortable.

She said this to Helena and Helena took the uncomfortable trousers back to one of the shelves.

After a solid half an hour of pants shopping, they went looking for jumpers that hid her neck but weren't to warm.

They found some turtlenecks but that were about it. Helena started to give up when she looked over at the accessory department and saw some scarfs.

She got a great idea, they could take a normal v-neck and throw on a scarf. Hermiones neck would be covered up and it were in style. The spring in England were often cold and windy so a scarf were needed and wouldn't look out of place.

Helena went and got every scarf she saw + other accessories. That matched with the scarfs.

Then she went back and picked out several v and u necks, after that they went over to the t-shirts and got a bunch of them as well. Next they bought underwear and socks. They exited H&M and the Helena said "one down at least 7 to go"

When Hermione heard this she preyed to the blue lady that Helena would just pick out the cloths and leave.

She felt like her head were about to explode there were so much noises, people and things to look at. She could feel all the looks people around her were giving her, they looked at her with curiosity, disgust, distaste and pity. Why...? she had now idea, maybe it were because of her buzz cut and baggy, to big cloths. Anyway it made Hermione feel uncomfortable and she just wanted to go back to the house again.

Helena could see that Hermione were uncomfortable and kept looking around.

But she couldn't do much about it, Hermione needed cloths.

Helena went towards JC (it is a shop in Norway) thinking that Hermione should have the opportunity to pick out some cloths for her self, and not just have cloths that she had picked out. they went through every shop that had cloths a 9 year old would like and ended up with at least 15 bags with cloths + accessories.

At the same time Tom had been looking at paint and painting tools, he bought the painting tools he would need, but not any paint. He thought that Hermione should decide the colors and stuff.

So Helena and Hermione went to the car with their 15 bags give or take. popped the trunk and started to loaded them in.

They had just finished when Tom came.

"hey, did you guys find some cloths?" Tom had one bag in his left hand and a grocery bag in the other.

"Yes, we did. Hermione have now at least 15 bags filled with cloths and accessories" Helena were beaming, after their trip in to JC, Hermione had opened up a little and picked out almost every piece garment her self.

"WOW, I'm glad I weren't there to sit through it all" Tom had a broad smile, he liked seeing Helena happy and now she were extremely happy.

After all the almost adoption they had been through and all the let downs they had to deal with.

He were extremely happy to see Helena this exceeded. And Hermione to had a small smile playing on her lips.

When they arrived home the clock had just passed 20.00 and the Grangers were dead tried, Hermione that were used to train from 06.00 to around 21.00 weren't tried at all, Yes they had dinner and brief breaks in between, but the feline DNA mixed with the shark DNA made it so that she didn't exhaust easily.

Tom helped Helena and Hermione with Hermiones bags, it took several trips up and down the stairs. Back at the mall they had one of those carts and they still had to carry some of the bags.

When all the bags were up in Hermiones room Tom went down to make dinner.

While Hermione and Helena put the cloths a away.

Hermione were at a loose, she had never seen so many cloths that were supposed to be in one closet and she didn't know where to begin. It didn't help either that almost all of them were different, yes most were turtle necks, jeans and v necks, but the colors and patterns were different.

She had some tank tops too, but she wouldn't get to use them out side, not yet anyway. Helena said that her hair would grow out soon and then she could use almost every piece of clothing she liked out side as well.

Because her hair would cover her neck and the tattoo.

When they finally finished, Tom had just finished dinner and they sat down to eat.

Hermione were unaware of the look the Grangers were giving her, she were to busy eating.

Her eyes almost rolled to the back of her head at the taste, she couldn't even describe it, She literally didn't have words for it.

The Grangers saw the look on Hermiones face and smiled, the mere though of seeing her happy made them happy, She were theirs now and anyone that tried to take her from them would pay hell, if they as much as touched her they would pay the price. The Grangers were after all dentist and knew how to inflict unbearable pain.

**Okay, I know that my writing is bad and boring, but bear with me. The next Chapters will be some flash forwards, and Harry Potter will probably come in, in the next chapter=D Thanks for reading and to all of you that have reviewed i'm very grateful. **


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N I'm sorry for the late update, but have exams and stuff to finish. Anyway I can't promise that the next chapter will be up quick, but I will try my best=) **

**A special thanks to HEALER for accepting to be my beta. She a great beta.**

**And of course, thanks to the people that have reviewed, you know who you are.**

**Disclaim: I don't and will never own Dark Angel or Harry Potter=(**

'thoughts' "speaking"

**1 month later**

Hermione woke up and was nervous as hell.

It was her first day of school and she had no idea what to expect. Helena and Tom had explained that she would begin in primary school (_I'm not sure this is right, we have a different system in Norway, but I looked it up on the nett and this is what I found)_ where she would go till she was 13, then she would graduate and start secondary school.

"Hermione are you awake?" Tom called up from the first floor.

"Yes, I'm coming" Hermione shouted back, she went into the bathroom and got dressed in what Helena had picked out the day before.

She looked at herself in the mirror and grabbed a strand of her hair, it was about 2 cm out from her head and she thought it looked weird. She wasn't used to have "long hair".

She let go of her hair and studied her cloths, She had on tight fitting jeans, a v-neck with 3 quarter sleeve that was a dark shade of purple, and a white scarf.

The shade of purple matched her room pretty well, or it matched the one wall that was purple. Her room had 3 different colors on the walls. Purple, white and black. The wall where her bed stood was purple, the wall with the window was white and the other two were black.

Finally she got out of the bathroom and went down to the kitchen.

Helena was sitting at the table with her morning coffee reading the newspaper, while Tom stood by the stove making breakfast and humming to the song on the radio.

Helena looked up when Hermione entered and smiled. She did this every morning, and for the most part every time Hermione walked into a room, and when she smiled Tom smiled.

Hermione had thought that it was a little weird in the beginning, but now she just smiled back at them. She had this feeling of happiness all the time now, like nothing could bring her down. But this morning she didn't smile, she had never been a person to show feelings especially if she was scared, it was hard wired in to her not to show over the span of a month, the Grangers had managed to bring down some of her walls and she couldn't figure out how to build them up again.

The 3 Grangers ate their breakfast in silence, the only sound that was made came from the Radio and the occasional demand to pass the butter, milk and so on.

"Hermione, we need to get ready to go now" said Helena when she looked up at the clock.

Hermione looked up at Helena with hidden fear and the short month Hermione had been with them, Helena had learned to interpret Hermione's emotions. Helena could see that Hermione was scared "Hermione, you know that it is nothing to be afraid of, the other kids are gonna like you, just wait and see" she said.

Hermione debated with herself for a minute, before she decided to tell Helena the reason behind her fear. "Well you see it's not the kids I'm afraid of... it's the school." Hermione remembered all the times she and her siblings were taught something new, it was always a technique to kill, spy or torture. She didn't want to learn more, she knew enough.

"Oh well, the school is nothing to be afraid of either. The teachers are very nice and they teach you how to write, read, calculate and so much more." Helena smiled, but on the inside she wanted to cry. She knew or thought she knew why Hermione didn't like the concept of school, and that was because of Manticore. Hermione was used to learn what a soldier learns and NO child should have to learn stuff like that.

"I can write and read, and l'm pretty sure that I can do more advanced Mathematics than most kids my age" Hermione knew that she mighy, be wrong about the Trig but she would do and say anything to get out of going to school. She didn't run away from Manticore just to go to another one.

"Okay, lets make a deal. You go to school today and if you don't like it you don't have to go back tomorrow. How does that sound?" Tom that had been quiet through out the whole commotion, decided that Hermione could be home schooled if needed, but he had a feeling that Hermione would love school. She just needed to give it a try.

"Okay..." Hermione saw the small smile on Tom's face and knew that it meant that he knew something she didn't know.

"Great, now that it's settled we need to get going" Helena saw the expression Tom had and winked at him.

When Helena, Tom and Hermione arrived at the school, there were a few cars already there. Helena took Hermione's hand in hers and walked towards the front office. Tom trailed along, he almost expected Hermione to bolt at any 's grip on Helena's hand tightened with each step they took. It was starting to get uncomfortable.

The school CONSISTED OF two buildings that were formed as L's and pointed towards each other so they made a square.

In the middle there was a playground, with swings, a basketball court, a jungle gym and much more. To Hermione, this looked like an obstacle training area.

They went inside the front office. Helena and Tom went to the front desk and asked to get Hermione's schedule and the direction to her classroom.

The lady smiled and gave them an envelope with all the information they would need and a map of the school. Hermione glanced at the map and saw that it there were a lot of rooms that just had a number and nothing else. Like back at Manticore.

Helena looked at the map, then she took a hold of Hermione's hand again and started the walk to class room: 4a. The corridors had a lot of paintings and stuff the kids had made, or it looked that way.

They found class room 3b and looked at the map. "4a should be the door on the left" Helena said still looking at the map. They all looked at the door that was left of 3a, and saw that it was open.

At the front of the room there was a desk where a young looking woman was sitting. She looked up when Tom cleared his throat, she looked at them for a second before smiling to them a genuine smile,a type of smile that you don't often see.

"You must be the Grangers, I have already talked to the other kids and they are very don't get new pupils that often"

Helena let go of Hermione's hand and reached for the teacher's.

"Hi I'm Helena and this is Tom, my husband and you already know my daughter's name. I think Hermione has been a little nervous these past few days, but I also think that she is going to make friends pretty fast"

"That's great, but there's nothing to be scared of, and my name is Anna" Anna gave one of those strong tight hand shake that shows, that she doesn't bend easily.

The Grangers had to go to work and left Hermione with her new teacher.

They sat quietly for a while, before some of the kids started to show up. The first kid that entered was a boy, quite chubby with dirty blond hair and freckles all over his didn't make much out of himself and went quietly towards a table.

Hermione, that had taken a seat at the back of the class, could see that he was no soldier and had very little training what so ever. Hermione knew she could take him down with just a simple blow to the stomach, right to the diaphragm.

The next were a group of girls that were laughing and giggling, you could clearly see that the girl in the middle was the leader, she was a blond little girl, but ooze self-confidence. She had the behavior of a CO but lacked the posture of one. She, like all the other that had entered so far, lacked the body and expression of a soldier.'That's weird, isn't this a school?' wondered Hermione

The class started to fill up and Hermione didn't even bother to look up anymore. There was the sound of the bell, and Anna went to the door and closed it.

"Hey, everyone I hope you have had a good weekend. As I said on Friday we have a new student. Her name is Hermione, Hermione would you come up and introduce yourself?"

All the students turned their heads to the back were Hermione was sitting.

"Eh... okay" Hermione walked up to the catheter and looked at the kids. "Well as you know my name is Hermione, a month ago I moved from the US where I lived in an orphanage. I live now with my adopted parents, the Grangers" Hermione said the text Helena had instructed her to say. She let her mind go to auto pilot and scanned the crowd for threats, but turned up empty. There was not a single person in this classroom that could be looked at as a threat. Not even as a group...

"Thank you Hermione, you can sit down now."

Hermione walked back to her place and sat down, she looked out the window, it was nice and sunny outside, the grass had started to turn green and the plant life had started to wake up again.

"Well class since Hermione was so nice to tell us something about herself, why don't we do the same? Nikki lets start with you"

Anna looked at the blond girl and smiled. "Why don't you come up here and tell Hermione and the class something about yourself?"

'Nikki' Hermione turned the name around in her head, Nikki was the blond girl that had come in earlier, she was a petite little girl and her blond hair came down to her butt.

"Hey, as you all know my name is Nikita or Nikki. I'm a Pee Wee Cheerleader and that is about it" Hermione didn't know what a Pee Wee cheerleader was, but she didn't actually care either.

"Thank you Nikki, Eric your turn." said Anna.

And that pretty much sums up the entire first period. Name after name kid after kid.

And Hermione couldn't care less, none of them had any qualities that Hermione could relate to. You can look at it as a shark swimming with dolphins. She just didn't fit in.

The day went on and Hermione discovered that 'school' had nothing to do with Manticore, all they did were simple math questions, read books with more pictures than words and learn about history.

After 3 periods the bell rang again and Anna said that they could take their food up.

Hermione looked in her bag and found her food, her lunch consisted of an apple, a sandwich and a bottle of milk.

The milk because of the seizures, the apple because she rather liked them and th e sandwich... well that one was just to satisfy Helena.

The bell rang again and the kids ran outside, Hermione just sat still and looked out the window. The weather had changed from sunny and cloud free to a dark blue with gray rain clouds. She felt that someone was looking at her and looked up, there on the other side of the classroom stood a girl with dark brown hair, too skinny for her own good, and dark stormy eyes. The girl started to walk towards her.

When she reached the table she smiled.

"Hey, I my name is Selina" Selina had this weird aura about her. It was like she could see right through you, but at the same time it looked like she was ten million miles away.

"Hi, my name is Hermione. You weren't in class..." Hermione hadn't seen her or heard her speak, so why was she here? She didn't look like someone from Manticore, She was too skinny and didn't have a body that indicated she could kill with a couple of blows.

"Oh, well I overslept so I just got here... Would you like me to show you around?" Selina had a friendly smile, Hermione decided that she rather liked Selina.

"Well I think I've seen everything everything." She saw Selina's smile fade and added. "But you are welcomed to sit here with me."

Thanks to the map, Hermione knew every bit of this school like the back of her hand.

"Okay, I think I will do that"

The smile was back up again, and at full force.

They sat in silence for a while. Selina was looking out of the window, mirroring the posture Hermione had before Selina walked over.

While Hermione eat her food, she couldn't help to notice that Selina hadn't eaten or made a move to find her food. She just looked out the window with a small smile mixed with a frown.

"Eeh, aren't you hungry?" Hermione couldn't stop her mouth before she had asked. 'That seems to happen a lot lately' she mused to herself

"...Eh , well yes, but as I said I overslept and didn't have time to make lunch." Selina was still looking out the window.

"Oh okay... You can have my sandwich if you want?" Hermione wasn't that hungry and she liked Selina and didn't want her to go hungry.

"Really? Aren't you hungry?" Selina said this with an odd look on her face, like no one had ever asked her that before.

"Yeah really, I'm not that hungry, I have a rather small stomach" They sat in silence after

that, but both knew that they were now friends.

Hermione had decided to go to school, the subjects may not be that difficult, but she liked them. She had never used mathematics for fun, it had always been to calculate a move or find out a strategy. And she had found her first friend, she couldn't just leave now.

**2 years later.**

"Mum the mail" Hermione yelled up the staircase, she ruffled through the letters and stopped at an old looking letter that was addressed to her.

To Hermione Granger.

East hill way road 9.

EXETER 603

She turned the letter around and found a wax stamp... 'Eh that's kind of cool and wired at the same time' She thought

She broke the seal and pulled out letters, she unfolded the first one and read what it said:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Dear Hermione Granger.

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. On the second (or the first depending on the order you read this) parchment you will find a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Someone should pop up in 10 to 30 minutes, after you have read this letter.

Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl for registration.

Kindest regards, Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

'What the Hell?' was Hermione's first thought.

She looked at the second letter and unfolded it.

HOWGARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Uniform  
_First year students will require:_

Three sets of plain work robes (black)

One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

Please not that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags

Books  
_All students should have a copy of each of the following books:_

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) _by Miranda Goshawk_

A History of Magic _by Bathilda Bagshot_

Magical Theory _by Adalbert Waffling_

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration _by Emeric Switch_

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _by Phyllida Spore_

Magical Drafts and Potions _by Arsenius Jigger_

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _by Newt Scamander_

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection _by Quentin Trimble_

Other Equipment

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set of glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set of brass scales

Students may also bring and owl, cat or toad.

To muggles and others that may not know: You can find all of this in Diagon Alley, London.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS.


	11. Chapter 11

Hermione sat on the train, the same train that would bring her to her home for the next few years. The train that was taking her to the school that had changed everything. This school was taking her away from her only friend she ever had.

She still remembered the day her Hogwarts letter came. She was so confused. She hadn't even heard about witches and wizards before. It wasn't something they teach you at Manticore.

When her mother saw the letter she laughed and called it a prank. She said that Hermione shouldn't worry about it and throw it away.

Then 15 minutes later, came the big shock, when Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, knocked on their door. The Professor told them that it would be in Hermione's best interest to attend Hogwarts and even though this was a shock, everything would be all right after some time.

Hermione knew she was intelligent and that the subjects wouldn't be a problem, but she didn't want to leave her school. Okay, she didn't really feel like she quite fit in, but she had Selina. She couldn't leave behind what she considered a part of her unit...again. And she wouldn't, she refused, for hours they argued, she gave them all the excuses she came up with. Saying she belonged at home with her parents, that she wouldn't know the first thing about wizards and that she didn't want to be a witch. But in the end, every excuses where dismissed and given a solution. Even her parents wanted her to go to Hogwarts after all the good things the professor had say about it.

So that brings us to the train ride, where Hermione now sat alone and quite pissed. When she had told Selina the day after the letters came, that she was going to a prestigious boarding school in Scotland. Selina first was sad, then happy then sad again.

Selina hadn't a very good home environment and Hermione was her only friend at school, of course she wanted the best for Hermione, but it didn't change the fact that Hermione would be living away from home for months and find new friends. And maybe forget about her. So she did what was best and she ignored her bad feelings and pretended that everything was all dandy and peachy.

Hermione that was trained in behavior and assessing her opponent, saw right away that Selina was only playing happy for her sake, and she didn't like it. She wanted Selina to give her a reason to stay. A reason she could give her parents, a reason she could give herself. In the bottom line, there was that small part of her that wanted to go to this school, she wanted to be challenged, she wanted to be the best she could ever be. So that one day, she would take Manticore down and find her siblings. And this feeling was encouraging her to leave and, at the same time, pissing her off.

In the month or so that followed the arrival of the letters, Hermione learned everything she could, how to change her appearance, how to do wordless magic. She did everything she could on her own, so that she wouldn't have to focus on the basic stuff, but could focus on learning more advanced magic.

She also decided that she would change her appearance, to prevent being recognized if Manticore had ties to the school. She made her hair look wilder and untamable, her front teeth a little too big and she bought clothes that were one or two sizes bigger, so they would hide her well toned body. She thought it better to be over prepared than get a punch in the face because she hadn't been thorough with her background and looks.

So with her new looks and a good background story, she bid goodbye to her parents and Selina, she boarded the train and that's where she had been sitting for the last hour, just thinking about the past and how things could have been different. If she had been born a Granger, if she had a normal childhood, if she hadn't had a cocktail of different genes in her body, if she just had been normal. And not the abomination she really was, but she was what she was, and she was determined to make the best of her abilities and make Manticore pay for what they did to her and her family, and still kept doing to her friends back at Manticore. When they escaped, they had left behind all the other units that they considered friends if not family. And this school was her chance to save them. To give them a life like the one she wanted when she escaped.

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted when a scrawny kid about her age barged in to her train compartment asking if she had seen a toad or something, he looked so nervous and adorable that she decided to help him find his toad or whatever it was. He nearly jumped out of his skin when she got up and walked toward him. And when she reached out her hand so he could shake it, he looked at her like he expected to get smacked or something. She decided to just grab his hand and introduce herself.

''Hermione Granger, nice to meet you, how about I help you find your toad?''

'''Huuummm, he… he… hey I… I… I'm Neville Longbottom, you… you… don't have to if you don't want to…'' He said all this with his face angled slightly to the left so he didn't have to look in her eyes.

'' Oh, it's not a bother, just wait a sec so I can change in to my school robes.''

She thought he looked absolutely adorable and wanted to raise his confidence. He stuttered something incoherent and walked out. She laughed a little at his hunched figure against the door. She pulled the big robes on in a hurry and walked out the door.

'' How about you go that way and I go this way?'' Hermione asked almost simultaneously as she walked through the door. Neville just nodded and turned around, clearly confused about why anyone would help him. Hermione just shook her head and started banging on doors asking about his toad, hoping someone would have it or seen it, she really didn't want to disappoint Neville.

After at least ten doors Hermione was starting to give up hope, this toad really didn't want to be found. But she kept going, one door after the other, she was two doors away from finishing with this part of the train and no toad so far. So when she reached the last door she really hoped the toad was there.

'' Hey, have you guys seen a toad? Some kid called Neville lost it'' Hermione asked for the hundredth time and last one. In the wagon sat two boys about her age, a redhead and a black haired.

'' Huuummm '' the blacked haired kid answered, a kid Hermione would have recognized anywhere. His picture had been in all the books she had read. His name was Harry Potter. He was allegedly responsible for the downfall of the darkest wizard to walk the earth. Or at least that's how he was described, before her sat a black haired scrawny boy with broken glasses. She couldn't quite see how he could harm a man much less killed someone. So she did what she did best and that was, play clueless.

''I guess not…Wait a minute, your glasses are broken, let me fix them?'' she asked with her best innocent voice.

'' Okay, but how do you suppose you will do that? '' Harry asked a little bemused.

'' Well I could use magic? Or do you have another way?'' Hermione asked, she didn't quite see why he hadn't done it himself. He was after all a well known wizard with great power it seemed.

'' Yes, yes, of course, I should have thought about that...'' Harry said a little embarrassed, of course she would use magic, and after all they were on the way to a wizarding school.

'' I'm Hermione, by the way'' Hermione introduced herself to the two boys, the redhead looked up for the first time since she entered the compartment, during Harry's and Hermione's conversation he had been too busy eating a chocolate frog that kept wiggling around.

'' I'm Harry and this is Ron, we are first years'' Harry said while laughing at Ron's face. Ron's eyes had grown wide when he saw Hermione.

'' Oh, so am I! Well let me fix those glasses of yours'' Hermione said with a hint of amusement.

'' O… O… Okay, are you sure you can do it? '' Harry asked with a slight stammer.

'' Of course, it's just a simple spell. I can teach it to you if you want? '' Hermione offered.

'' Hum, it's okay, but thanks '' was Harry's reply. He didn't want to show Hermione that he couldn't do magic.

Hermione walked and sat down on the opposite bench and said the spell, and puff the glasses was as good as new. Harry took them off and inspected them. He couldn't remember seeing them in such a good condition, when he got them they had been from a thrift store.

'' Well they are as good as new now, I have to go, but it was nice talking to you'' Hermione said with a smile and walked out to find that elusive toad.

**So here is chapter 11, it took awhile but here it is so enjoy. And it was betaed by MegAnne Cormack, who was wonderfully fast and was done in less than one hour ^^ thank you sooo much =D**


	12. Chapter 12

**I know that my chapters isn't that long and i'm working on it, but in the meanwhile here is a short chapter.**

**And once again thanks to my beta, with out MegAnne Cormack this Chapter wouldn't have been out for days. **

**Enjoy! And I don't own Harry Potter or Dark Angel. **

When the train came to a stop Hermione was one of the first off. This had two reasons, first she finally spotted the damn toad and secondly the lovely green slimy toad was heading straight for the gap between the train and the platform. So Hermione did what came naturally for her and that was jumping rolling and landing with her feet planted on the ground of the platform.

Unfortunately, a blond haired boy caught her doing that. And to say he was standing with is mouth agape was an understatement, he looked a cross between awestruck and frightened. He started to walk toward her and he was half-way to her, when two very fat boys cut him off.

'' Draco, we have to go if we want to get the best boat'' one of the fat boys said.

'' O… O… Okay'' the blond boy named Draco answered a little hesitant. The two fat boys turned around so they were behind Draco and he was hidden from Hermione's view. Hermione just shook her head and walked away to find Neville. She really hoped he would take better care of the ugly toad, because she really couldn't risk getting caught again.

The boat ride to the castle was amazing, try to picture yourself sitting in a pitch black room and the only light is coming from this really big majestic castle that you have only dreamed about or seen in fairy tales, and you can see is reflection on the deathly silent water that stretch on form miles around you. And all the light's coming from the castle are making the water burn with its glow. Then multiply that feeling you're getting by a thousand. Now you have about one tenth of Hermione's feeling of wonder as well as all the other first years.

Hermione's boat was the first to reach the pier, because when she had found Neville and get rid of the stupid toad, there was only one boat left, the first boat the no one wanted to sit in, due to the giant already occupying it. The giant was the first magical creature Hermione had ever seen in real life and to say she was excited was an understatement.

After getting her bearings and her feet on the mainland again, she asked the giant about everything her mind wanted and could think of. She learned that the giant's name was Rubeus Hagrid and that he was born to a wizard father and a giant mother. And that he is The Keys and Grounds Keeper at Hogwarts, furthermore that he can't legally do magic.

Hermione didn't get to ask about why he couldn't do magic, because Professor McGonagall came to take them to the sorting, which always took place in front of the whole school.

Some of the others students were whispering between them saying that they couldn't be friends if some of them got in this or that house and so on. Hermione on her part thought that to be ludicrous, she thought that they would still be the same people they were now. Just some qualities would be recognized and given a label. You aren't evil just because you have some cunning ways and you aren't foolhardy just because you are brave in some situations. Hermione knew for a fact that she was neither and she hardly believed that 11 year old children could be pure evil or simply stupid. So when the professor called her name, she was every interested in what the hat had to say about her and her inner qualities. Hermione walked up to the stool and sat down gracefully. The professor placed the hat on her head and she could feel it's presence in her head right away.

''Mmhm, what do we have here? A cocktail of genes, no real roots to your past, no knowledge of your parents or at least the human part of you. But, OH! What do we have here, great ambitions to get where you want to be, a cunning mind, a great head and vast bravery. Kind thoughts, but also darker than most. Where to put you?'' the hat asked, almost hoping she knew the answer.

''Aren't it you the one that will decide that, my only wish is to be put where they want me'' even though the thought was true, it surprised Hermione. She didn't really think she wanted to be liked by this bunch of witches and wizards. But she really did, she wanted to fit in for once in her life. She didn't want to be the one standing outside looking in. She wanted more than one friend.

''Mmhm, I see... Where to put you, where to put you...You would do great in every single one of the houses, some even more than the other... You are a tough one, but your genes are the one that will decide if I chose wrong...'' the hat mused on. And for the whole school to hear, he hailed:

'' A true Gryffindor.''

All the students at the Gryffindor's table applauded loudly and heartily over yet a new addition to their house, and the Hufflepuff and Rawenclav tables clapped politely while the Slytherins just sat there looking indifferent. When the hat made its statement all the professors looked up. In all their years at the school, it was the first time that the hat had said something more than the name of the house, and this was something that would bemuse them for the years to come.

Hermione sat down next to two twins that both had red hair and a lot of freckles, they were tall and lanky but with Hermione's trained eye she could see some serious muscle underneath their school robes. Not enough to take her down, even if they teamed up.

''Hey I'm Fred and this is George'' one of the twines said while the other took her hand and kissed it.

'' Hey to you too, I'm Hermione, but you already knew that '' Hermione said a little awkward. The twins just smiled at her and turned back to the sorting. After a while Harry Potter's name was called up and the hat seemed a little unsure to do with him, but after some mumbling and what seemed like a discussion the hat sang out ''Gryffindor'' Harry sat down in the empty space next to Hermione.

''Hey, nice to see you again. Looks like we are going to be house mates from now on'' Harry said with a little more confidence then when they first met each other.

''Nice to see you too, it looks like it'' Hermione said with a smile.

When Harry had sat down the whole table had gone quiet and now that they saw him talk, they all started to ask him questions at once. Hermione couldn't do anything other than just sit back and let them ask it out.

When all the first years were sorted and Dumbledore had said his welcoming speech, the nicest feast Hermione had ever seen appeared before them, it wasn't the biggest, because the dining hall back at Manticore had been a lot bigger, but the food back there tasted like dirt compared to this.

After the feast, the first years were lead up to their new house and given a dorm room. Hermione feel asleep that night feeling like she was back at the barracks at Manticore, it had been a long while since she had slept in the same room as so many girls, but it definitely brought back some memories.


	13. Chapter 13

**I don't own Harry Potter or Dark Angel. **

Hermione awoke as she always did, at the crack of dawn. She took 5 minutes to listen to her surroundings. All the other girls were fast asleep, some of them having nightmares, others in a deep REM sleep. Hermione with her feline attributes jumped out of her bed and tip toed to the bathroom.

She washed her face and was toweling when the seizures started, it started slower in her hand and progressed faster to her whole body. Her body was shaking so hard that it was hard to stand and she almost fell when she turned to look for her pills, she had them in her trunk and the walk from the bathroom to her bed was difficult.

At the end she had to crawl to her trunk and luckily for her the pills lay on top. She popped the lid and with shaking hands placed two in her mouth. She sat on the floor for what seemed like hours before the effects of the pill took hold. When she felt that she could stand she made her way back in bed and fell asleep for another hour.

When she woke up again, the room was buzzing with girls talking and getting dressed. Hermione knew she had a headache before she felt it. And she wandered to her trunk again to find another case of piles, but this time, they were for her aching body and head.

Some of the girls tried to talk to her, but when they just got yes and no as answers, they gave up and went back to getting dressed and talking to the other girls. Hermione even though she was the last up was the first finished, and down the stairs. She needed to find a place less noisy. Somewhere she could train and get some frustration out. It had been awhile since her last seizure, but the only thing that worked when she got them was a quiet place and somewhere she could let lose.

The first official day of school didn't start before the next day, at least not for the first years. The first day was a day to get to know each other and get familiar with the castle and its moody stairs.

Hermione did just that or she did half of what was expected, she explored the castle in her search for the perfect room. When she had walked past the same wall for what felt like the hundredth time, but in reality was just 3 times a door popped out. It was breathtaking and Hermione was gravitating towards it. She saw her hand open the door and steeped inside.

The room was divided in two, at one side there was a lot of pillows, mattresses and a tower of food. On the other side there was a fully equipped gym. All the equipment that she had back at Manticore and some stuff she never had seen before.

While she had been searching for the room, her headache had disappeared and all she wanted to do was kick some serious ass, she hated Manticore with all her being and that they couldn't even make her properly, even that they couldn't do correctly. And it made her go in to wave of rage. She lost all her sense and worked her body until exhaustion, well she didn't completely lose her mind, but she saw red and if the whole damned Manticore with all their many different units, she knew she could kick some serious ass until she pulverized them all.

After training for hours, she fell down like a sack of potatoes in the ocean of pillows. She picked up a slice of bread and a glass of milk. She didn't have the energy to put anything on the bread. So she eat it prison style. When she finished she just lay there thinking on how her life had changed once again and how this time she would take what was given to her and make something lethal out of it.

She so slowly made her way towards the door, when she reached it she looked back and smiled this room would give her all she needed to make her body the best and this school would give her that little edge, she needed to win or at least have a shot in hell.

One thought ran clear in her head '' who would have thought that the very genes they made me form will be the part that will bring them down? '' As she pondered that she made her way out the door and towards her dorm. She desperately needed a new set of cloths. She felt like a walking stink bomb.

**I know its super short, but this week has been long and stressful, school, babysitting and celebrating our national day (Norwegian style) can do that to you. So I'm going to sit down and make a super duper long chapter next =DD**


	14. Chapter 14

**It isn't that long and i'm sorry for that. I'm really working on it. and thanks again to MegAnne, my beta^^**

**I do not own Harry Potter or Dark Angle.**

A month passed and Hermione was doing good, she would go to classes then to the room she now knew was called the Room of Requirements. The first thing she did was finishing her homework then she worked on her dueling skills. After a couple of hours she started to train, she usually pushed herself to the point of exhaustion and when she could barely stand she would drag her feet back to her dorm, sleep and then do it all again.

She hadn't made any friends, but it didn't bother her much. She would rather train then listen to a girl talk about how some guy looked at her or something just as stupid. With Selina it was different, they didn't have many guys looking after them or so they thought. They spent their time talking about school stuff and just had some fun. They were quite mischievous when they wanted to be. And the perfect part was that they were never suspected of doing anything wrong. In the adults eyes the two girls were the perfect child, how wrong they were.

So when she got the news early that morning that Selina had been in a car accident and may not wake up again she was devastated. Hermione didn't cry easily but it seemed in this case that she couldn't stop. She held it together for school and it wasn't before Ron whispered that she was peculiar and a goodie two shoe and would probably never get any friends. She didn't really care about the first, but the later really hit home.

She wasn't concerned about not making friends with this lot, but that her first real friend, the one she considered a part of her new unit was dying, and she couldn't even go visit her. She wasn't even good enough to heal her.

She worked so hard to get her revenge. Worked so hard so she could help the units still trapped at Manticore, but she couldn't even help the people closest to her. How could she help the ones still at the base? And was it really worth it, in reality Manticore wasn't that bad if you got passed the fact that they tortured you and so on.

At least in Manticore you had security, you knew what your day was going to be like, your whole day, week, month, year, and even your life was planed out for you. There weren't any big nasty surprises that would bring you to your knees. There were just securities, you didn't need to think, to care, to worry. So why did they leave?

Hermione rushed past Ron and Harry and went straight for the first year bathroom. She stayed there trying to find a reason not to go back to Manticore. She stayed there trying to find a meaning to this big adventure the civilians called life. Why was it Selinas turn to go, who decided if she deserved to die? In Manticore it was simple, if you defected or weren't good enough you got canceled, but who was the person to decided those things on this side of the fence?

Hermione stayed in the bathroom just thinking for hours. And when she got out of the bathroom stall just to find a big enormous mountain troll she didn't have the energy to fight it. And she ran back in to the stall. The troll that had the brain of a peanut just started banging its club wildly after her. Debris rained down on Hermione and her only option was to draw closer and closer to the wall.

Then to her big surprise Harry and Ron came blasting through the door. And started throwing planks at it, Hermione saw that as her chance to escape and started to crawl towards the opposite wall. Before she could get to her feet the troll saw her and started to smash the sinks she was now hiding under. Harry took that as his clue to jump on the troll and in the doing so his wand got stuck in the troll's nose.

The troll started to shake his head and Harry lost his grip and fell of his back, but the troll caught him by the ankle and was raising his club to smash Harry's brains out. When Ron for the first time managed to cast the levitating spell right and the club flew out of his hand. Ron then let the club fall on the troll's head and he fell unconscious.

When the professors came barging in the bathroom doors and found the troll unconscious, to say they were stunned is an understatement. But they quickly recovered and they started deducting points and reprimanding them for their foolish behavior.

Hermione couldn't let Harry and Ron take the blame when they had came to her rescue, even when they didn't like her. So she took the full blame for what happened. The teachers were a little stunned that the goodie two shoes took the full blame and let them off with a warning.

Hermione's life changed in many ways that day, she became friends with Harry and Ron and started to let people get to know her. She changed her training sessions to the nights where her shark DNA kept her awake.

She later received a letter saying that Selina would make it, but she had a long way to go before she was normal or as normal as she could get again. Her injuries were severe and they had to amputate one of her legs to get her out of the car. She also had a serious head injury, but seemed to respond positively to all the tests.

When Christmas rolled around Hermione couldn't wait to get home and look after Selina, she had written to her every other day and received eager replays, that didn't show any sign to brain damage.

Then when Hermione came back from Christmas break a lot of stuff happened. Firstly Voldemort tried to restore himself by using the philosopher's stone, but failed. Well there weren't much other that happened, but that one thing was majorly important and Hermione, Ron and Harry used their whole school year to stop that from happening. In the end their professor, Professor Quirrell showed that he had Voldemort stuck to the back of his head and that it was he the one to let the troll in to the school. He then died when he touched Harry so he could get the Philosopher's Stone.

In their second year, it was pretty much the same, but this time Voldemort decided to try another approach and it ended with Hermione being petrified and Harry slaying a big Big snake, the basilik, in the chamber of secrets. And Ginny, Ron's little sister by a year almost died.

This brings us to Hermione's third year at Hogwarts, when a psycho murderer, Sirius Black, escaped from the best secured prison in the wizarding England, Azkaban. This man tried all year to get his hands on Harry, but it turned out that he wasn't a psycho murderer after all, but Harry's godfather and that it was Ron's pet rat that he wanted. Sirius Black just wanted to protect Harry from the evil rat. the pet wasn't a real rat, but an animagi, a human who can change his form to an animal. Peter Pettygrew, Ron's rat, had framed Sirius for the murder of himself, 12 muggles and that he was the one to tell the Dark Lord the location of James and Lily Potter. Sirius and Remus Lupin, best friend of James Potter and Sirius Black and also former teacher of DADA (Defense Against the Dark Arts), wanted to bring Peter to justice something they didn't get to do because the rat escaped.

All this brings us to fourth year where the term is just about to start.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey, it's a bit boring perhaps, but it's something ^^ thanks again to my amazing beta MegAnne**

**I do not own Harry Potter or Dark Angel.**

Hermione was seated at the Gryffindor's table waiting for her fourth year feast to begin. She sat with her now best friends Harry and Ron. A lot happened over the years at Hogwarts. They repeatedly battled against the Dark Lord. They got in loads of trouble and saved a wrongly convicted murderer. This past summer they attended the Quidditch World Cup. After the game the camp where the entire wizarding world was camping for the festivities, was attacked, by masked men. Also knows as Death Eaters.

Saying their life was like walking on clouds, was a very wrong statement. They witnessed to acts of pure evil, despicable cowards and they often meet cruelty.

But in all, even if things weren't always simple, Hermione had made friends for life, the kind of friends that would do anything for you and so would she in return without a second thought.

Now Harry had a godfather, a piece of the family he always wanted to have. And two friends that were is family.

In Ron's life the changes weren't so evident, since he already had a big family and a good life, but meeting Harry and Hermione brought some changes in him, they made him stronger, now he knows who he is and what he could be one day.

However, Hermione made other friends, not like her friendship with her to best mate, but another kind of friendship Neville and Ginny, the two of them were a part of her Unite. The Unite that had consisted of Selina and her, had now expanded and changed in to something new. A cross between a family and a Unite.

She knew that the members of the Unite didn't really know her point of view, what they represented to her and why should they?

They didn't know who Hermione really was and what her past was. They just thought that every time she would disappear she would go to the library to read or do homework. They never questioned her, never asked. Hermione knew they loved her and cared about her, but sometimes she wondered why they never noticed. She would come back to the common room in the middle of the night and she would just find a piece of paper saying that they had gone to bed and wished her good night. The next morning they never asked what she had been doing or when she got back they just went on like always. They never doubted her.

Anyway Selina had gotten a much better after the accident. At first, it was really difficult, she was depressed about her leg, but then she got this new cool prosthetic that gave her the opportunity to walk again. Her parents also got a wakeup call, they saw how close they were to lose their only daughter and they became more responsible, they cleaned up their acts and become the parents they were supposed to be.

Selina also got to go to a new school that was equipped to handle handicapped people. Although Selina functioned normally she still wanted to fit in and the school gave her that. She could be herself and no one looked down on her because they all had something that made them special. She also had gotten more confident and had her own set of friends. She often wrote to Hermione, but she wasn't as lost or lonely without her. She had her own life and Hermione was glad. She didn't want Selina to be lonely just because she wasn't there.

The sorting was finally over, when Hermione finished mussing over what happened since she walked troughs the doors of the castle. The whole school fell silent when Dumbledore stand before them to start on his annual speech.

'' Well now that the tiresome sorting is finished I welcome the first years to a wonderful year her at Hogwarts and hope they find themselves at home. On another note Hogwarts will be this year hosting the TriWizard Tournament and we will be welcoming the students from Durmstrang Institute of Magic and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. They will be arriving shortly but first I like to inform you that because of the tournaments dangerous nature no student under the age of 17 will participate, there will be drawn an age circle and only students over 17 will be able to enter. With that I like to say that the forbidden forest is still forbidden and anyone that dare enter would have a gruesome fate ahead... with that said on with the feast.''

The great hall was buzzing with the news about the tournament and the students under the age of 17 were starting to plan all kind of stunts to get inside the circle. The older students were just as exited and talked about all the glory they would get if they won the tournament. And how strange it was that they decided to have the tournament now, it's not like they didn't like it, it was just strange. The tournament hadn't been held for some time; the reason being the accidents to the champions and at least one death.

When they saw the director stand again, every single student fell silent.

'' I would now like to introduce the representatives from Dumstarng.''

With that said, the Great Hall doors flew open and in came a bunch of well trained men, they did some acrobatics that were quite impressive, well to Hermione's classmates at least. She thought that the stunts was poorly executed and on a beginner level. Although, Hermione could see that they were well built and she would love to spare with one of them someday.

When the men finished showing-off, what Hermione thought was the headmaster and another student stormed in, she recognized him as Victor Krum. She had seen him in the summer at the world cup. Victor Krum was the youngest seeker in the history to play international, for the Bulgarian's team. The two men walked with purpose and masculine grace. The younger man locked eyes with Hermione and when he passed he winked at her.

She was a little shocked at this, she knew Manticore produced attractive soldiers so they could blend in, but she always thought that they had messed up with her beauty genes. She was nothing to look at (or that was what she thought), she had messy hair, only that was her own doing, dull brown eyes and there was nothing to warrant attention. While she was thinking about this, Dumbledore announced the girls from Beauxbatons.

The girls came in with such grace and flow that Hermione thought that they were floating over the floor for a second. They sent out butterflies every time they stopped and it was obvious that they had the whole male population at their feet. At the end a very tall woman walked in, Hermione's only thought was that she had to be a giant like Hagrid, but not a half giant. When they all were seated Dumbledore welcomed them and said a few words before he dismissed the students.

Ron and Harry were talking excitedly about THE Victor Krum going to their school. It seemed that it didn't bother them that they weren't allowed in the tournament. Hermione just hung back and let them talk about Quidditch, she acted like she didn't like the sport, but in reality she loved it. She would sit there with her book and ''read'' but with her enhanced peripheral vision and her power of multitasking she could do both. She thought it best not to be too interested in sports and stuff like that. She didn't want to slip up and hit the ball too hard. Or show her scares or risk showing her two tattoos. After she had been living with the Grangers for a while, she had gone to a tattoo parlor and gotten a complex rose tattoo, and if you looked closely you could see the word ''Family'' spelled out. The tattoo was located at the base of her neck just above her code bar tattoo and it symbolized that she would always put her family before Manticore.

When they reached the common room Hermione said that she had to go to the library to finish some things she hadn't had time to in the break. The boys just nodded and walked in. surely to talk more about Victor or play chess or talk about Victor while playing chess.

Hermione walked and kept on walking. When she finally reached the library she took the left away from the library doors, and continued walking. She didn't stop until she reached a wall, she then walked up and down the corridor 3 times before the wall started to transform and shift and when it finally stopped there was a door there that could rival the great hall doors.

She pulled the door effortlessly and walked in, she loved the feel the room gave to her. It was a room where she could be herself, stop pretending and just do what she felt like doing. She changed out of her school robes and in to a training thighs and a tank top. She started warming up with a set of laps around the room, when she felt her muscles warmed up, she started her training like every day, enjoying the feel of her body burning.


	16. Chapter 16

**I own nothing and please don't hate me for the idea. I will answer any question you guys have about what is going happen :P**

**and thanks again to my beta, MegAnne ^^  
**

It had been a week since the start of school year, and everything had been quite normal. The tournament was scheduled to begin in two weeks and every single student was bursting to know who would become their champion.

Hermione just wanted to see how difficult the tournament would be, she had read every book about the TriWizard tournament that she could find in the library. And she found some interesting facts and felt that the tournament itself wasn't the hard part, the harder part would be the battles in your mind, the conflict that your mind would make you endure, about winning and doing the right thing.

There had been many that were strong and sharp, but had failed to win because they didn't stand the pressure. She knew that the champions would be tested on so many levels, their physical and mental strength, and their compassion.

This tournament tended to show the real personality of each champions, showing their true colors. But for now they just had to wait for the Goblet of Fire to choose the champions for each school.

Hermione sat in the Gryffindor's common room with a book on her lap and smiled secretly too herself. Victor Krum had come up to her one day in the library, one of the few times she really was there instead of telling this to her friends so she could work out in the RoR. And he asked her help to find a book.

While they searched the shelves for the book he started to talk to her. Nothing specific just what her hobbies were and so on. Hermione found it quite easy to talk to him, it was refreshing to know that there were boys, no scratch that, men that thought about other things then Quidditch and chess. They ended up talking for hours instead of finding the book. After that it had become a secret habit to talk with Victor in the library.

''What's have you got there, Mione?'' Harry asked as he plumped down beside of her.

'' Oh hey Harry, hum nothing special just a book '' Hermione answered with a small smile.

'' I kind of saw that, which book is it. It looks kind of heavy'' Harry replied with a grin.

'' Well it's _Hogwarts: a History_, very interesting actually!''

What Harry didn't know was that the book was charmed to look like Hermione's favorite book, _Hogwarts: a History_, but she was reading a war strategic book.

Not that Hermione needed to know more about that stuff, but keeping up to date couldn't hurt and maybe she would need it someday. Someday she would put those new tactics and strategies, that they kept creating to good use. When the time came for Voldemort's finally battle and her personal end game, to destroy Manticore.

''Oh I see, well do you want to go down to the goblet of fire with me?'' Harry asked kindly, over the year he had started to look at Hermione like a sister. Like a part of his make shift family.

'' Hum okay, but I'm going to take my book with me '' Hermione stated.

Harry just smiled, Harry knew better then to separate Hermione from her books.

The walk down to the room that held the Goblet was comfortably quiet. That was one of the thing Harry loved about her, she didn't hover over him like he would go bad at any moment. She just said a few carefully choose words and left it at that. It wasn't like she didn't care because she really did and he knew that, but she didn't push when he wasn't ready. And he always knew that she would be there when he was.

As soon as they reached the room, Hermione sat down on one of the benches in the room and Harry went to join Ron. They cheered and laughed at the ones that were brave enough to put their name in the fiery dept of the Goblet. The Goblet stood tall and proud with this strange magical aura around it. The fire itself was blue like a unpredictable sea. You could almost feel it wanting to break free and destroy everything in its path. They watched Cedric Diggory put his name in the Goblet, as soon as the piece of parchement touched the blue flames coming from the Goblet, the fire intensified and you could see the form of a blue cloud. They were quiet for a half breath, and the exited cheers of encouragement came.

Hermione almost doubled over when Ron's elder twin brothers came in with an aging potion. The twins were always fun to be around, and if you really value your life you couldn't accept anything they gave you. It was likely a prototype to a new sort of prank devise they had concocted or something that would make you terribly ill. Hermione gave a small snort. And said with a glint in her eye

''It's not going to work.''

The twin's attention focused on her and they said in their normal fashion, finishing each others sentences.

'' And why dear Hermione would you say that? ''

'' Well, you see that blue misty circle there? It's an age circle drawn by Dumbledore himself. I strongly believe that with his genius mind that it can be beat with something as dumb witted as a aging potion'' Hermione said in her well known lecture voice.

'' But that's the beauty of it, it is so dumb witted that it will work.'' Was the twin's simple reply before they downed the potion and jumped in the circle.

When nothing happened, they did a little victory dance before they tossed their names in the fire. It seemed to work for a minute before the fire lashed out and hit the two twins, knocking them out of the circle and aging them to the point of gray bearded old men.

Hermione just laughed and pretended to read her book while the two twins fought it out on the floor.

Hermione knew who would be entering in the room before they even crossed the threshold. Being an engineering killer machine, could do that to someone, she just heard them walking toward the room.

The men that came barging in the door were none other than Victor and headmaster Igor Karkkoff. Victor walked with purpose towards the goblet and before he dropped his name he looked at Hermione and gave her an mysterious smile.

Hemione just nodded and looked down on her opened book. She didn't want him to enter the tournament. She knew he had the power to win and the strength. But he hadn't the smarts, not that he was stupid or anything like that, he wasn't the brightest wizard and he knew that. And he knew what Hermione thought about it. But who was she to tell someone that something was dangerous, she had escaped a government military base at age nine, even when she didn't know what was out there. So she kept her mouth shut.

When the Halloween's feast was over Dumbledore stood from his chair. The Goblet was now before him. The Headmaster placed his hand on the Goblet. It changed color and spat out a burned piece of parchment, in the piece was the name of the Dumstarng's champion, Victor Krum. The hall erupted in cheers and Victor walked up to Dumbledore with waves of pride pouring out of him. Dumbledore congratulated him and sent him to the trophy room behind the great hall. Then he raised his hands and the whole hall feel silent. The Goblet spat, as if on cue, the next piece of parchment.

'' And the champion for The Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour'' the delicate witch smiled a charming smile before she walked with the grace that no human should posses, to the trophy room.

''And now the Hogwarts' champion."

Once again the goblet changed color and spat out a burned piece of parchment. The whole hall held their breath for a moment before Dumbledore hummed to himself. '' It's blank'' and in a pit higher tone he said '' did someone lay a blank piece of parchment in the goblet? '' No one answered. He looked around with his piercing blue eyes and tried to find the person, but he couldn't. Then the parchment got a mind of his own and flew through the air and landed at the feet of the one and only Hermione Granger.

Hermione looked down and picked it up and tried to give it back to Dumbledore but the parchment just turned to dust. No one said a word and Hermione gave a puzzled look at Dumbledore.

'' Hum well I just have to said that Miss Granger you are now our Champion.'' Dumbledore said a little bemused and for the second time at Hogwarts all the teachers wondered who Hermione really was.

Hermione walked with uncertain steps to the headmaster. And he just pointed to the trophy room. Then he turned to the rest of the room that now was in an uproar and clapped his hands.

When the room fell silent once again he started to say.

'' We can't always control the magic's from the Goblet, it has a way of working in mysterious ways and I hope that all of you will support Miss Granger for the goblet has chosen it's champion..'' He was about to bide the hall goodnight when the goblet acted like a lunatic once again and spat out yet another name.

'' Harry, Harry Potter. Harry Potter'' he all but screamed.

Harry that was still a little confused about Hermione roles in the TriWizard tournament that he didn't quite understand why Dumbledore was yelling his name. It wasn't before Ron took him by the shoulder, and pushed him up from his seat that he reacted. The hall was shooting him dirty looks and whispering with each other. He walked to the room he had seen the others go through.

He had just walked down the stairs when he was enveloped in a big hug from a small figure. He let Hermione hug him and melted in to the familiar feel of his sister. It was abruptly ended by the teachers storming in to the room.

''Harry, Harry. Did you put your name in the Goblet?'' Dumbledore said grabbing Harry's shoulders.

''No'' Harry whispered.

''Did you get one of the older students to do it?''

'' No, I don't know how my name ended up in the goblet'' Harry was close to tears at this point. Why every weird thing always happened to him. Why couldn't it been someone else for a change?

Hermione saw Harry's inner struggle and went to hug him again. She didn't know what had happened after she left, but she knew that it had ended with Harry becoming a champion.

'' Barty, surly Mr Potter can't compete? He is just fourteen. he haven't even heard about some of the spells he will need to know to complete this tournament.'' Dumbledore stated politely to the chief of magical affairs.

'' The tournament is a binding magical contract; he can't get out of it... And it's only fair towards Miss Granger. Her name didn't come up but the goblet choose her, she is in the same year as Harry is she not?'' Barty said with a drawn face, he really didn't want to be the one to tell stuff like this. Maybe it was time to resign?

'' Well I suppose.. Well my dear champions of to bed you go'' Dumbledore said with a weary smile. He really hadn't witnessed anything like this in all his years at Hogwarts. And then was the curious case of one Hermione Granger.


End file.
